Oakland A’s physician Dr. Allan Pont has currently been with the A’s for 38 years pictured with former A’s third baseman Eric Chavez ( file photo by Michael Zagaris)
The Doctor is In Oakland A’s Official Physician (Exclusive)
That’s Amaury News and Commentary
By Amaury Pi-González
Dr.Allan Pont is the Oakland Athletics Official team physician, now for 38 years and going. I could not help but to ask him, a Doctor, about this experience of a Pandemic we have lived under for over a year now.
Pont: “I never seen anything like this, I was born in 1946, I remember Polio was a serious issue, we never went into the water… I ran a hospital when we had a flu epidemic, we might have 20 people sick, but nothing like this.
“In 1918 we had the Spanish flu which could had originated in Kansas” About becoming the Oakland team Doctor “I taught at Stanford, took job at what was the Children’s Hospital in San Francisco when Walter Haas bought the team, Roy Eisenhardt hired a consultant to look for a new doctor, Charlie Finley had 13 Doctors and they rotated and Roy who knows everybody, wanted a Stanford trained Doctor”.
He mentioned that is a very small field among all 30 MLB clubs, 60 Orthopedics and 60 Medical doctors In your opinion what is the biggest innovation in baseball as far as medicine is concerned?
Pont: “The Tommy John Surgery is the biggest change, it’s an amazing phenomenon, then we had the steroids era (pause) I testified in the Mitchell Commission during the steroids, but the Tommy John surgery, like one-third of pitchers”
Doctor Pont specified that he is an Internist not an Orthopedic, but when asked about the myth that young kids in high school should not throw a curve-ball because it could tax their arms, he said:
Pont: “I don’t know if that is true especially if you are strong, is all about grip not motion but I do not really know what causes Tommy John, might be too much pitching”.
The A’s physician is a big baseball fan.
Pont: “I was born in Montreal, Canada and lived there until 1974, as a 7-year old I would take the bus to see the Minor League Montreal Royals compete, I remember players like Sandy Amorós, Tommy LaSorda, Don Drysdale, I became a Dodger fan, I remember one year during an exhibition game Jackie Robinson playing for Montreal”. Doctor Pont mentioned historic Jarry Park in Montreal.
We wish the Doctor a good season and we thank him for his courtesy of given this interview. Who was the first team doctor? In the 2nd century AD the first ‘team doctor’ also known as Claudius Galenos (131 to 201 AD), he was appointed as doctor of the gladiators in the Pergamum Kingdome. The physician only became involved if there was an injury.
Stay well and stay tuned.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the lead Spanish play by play announcer for the Oakland A’s on flagship station 1010 KIQI LaGrande San Francisco and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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